Lethal Shots

The Beast Master talent spec and glyphs didn’t change much in 3.1. While not very exciting, it does make for an easy transition into the patch. Below is a quick summary of my recommended build and glyphs. Click here to see it in WowHead for mouse-over pop-up goodness.

• Beast Mastery (53 points)
  • 5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk
  • 1/5 Endurance Training
  • 2/2 Focused Fire
  • 2/2 Improved Revive Pet
  • 1/1 Aspect Mastery
  • 5/5 Unleashed Fury
  • 2/2 Improved Mend Pet
  • 5/5 Ferocity
  • 1/1 Intimidation
  • 2/2 Bestial Discipline
  • 2/2 Animal Handler
  • 3/5 Frenzy
  • 3/3 Ferocious Inspiration
  • 1/1 Bestial Wrath
  • 5/5 Serpent’s Swiftness
  • 3/3 Longevity
  • 1/1 The Beast Within
  • 3/3 Cobra Strikes
  • 5/5 Kindred Spirits
  • 1/1 Beast Mastery
• Marksmanship (11 points)
  • 5/5 Lethal Shots
  • 3/3 Careful Aim
  • 2/5 Mortal Shots
  • 1/2 Go for the Throat
• Survival (7 points)
  • 5/5 Improved Tracking
  • 2/2 Survival Instincts

Glyphs:

• Major
  • Bestial Wrath
  • Serpent Sting
  • Steady Shot
• Minor
  • Feign Death
  • Revive Pet
  • Mend Pet

For your pet, you will want to spec it something like this (Ferocity pet assumed). The build focuses on pure DPS talents, taking both of the new 6th tier talents. Note that to do this it requires you to take the 51st talent, Beast Mastery.

There is some flexibility build into the spec. You could take Spirit Bond over Improved Mend Pet if you wished. If you are short on hit rating, you could drop some points from the Survival tree and take any needed points in Focused Aim. As for glyphs, other than Bestial Wrath your major glyphs are pretty flexible. There are some other solid choices you could use depending on your play style.

Remember, as I always say this spec is not a end all. It is merely a starting point for you to design a spec to suit you. Feel free to leave a link to the build you are using in the comments. I am always interested to see what other people are using.

3.1 has hit the PTR and dual specs are up for testing. The hybrid classes haven’t been this excited since the introduction of Spell Power. But as a Hunter you are a pure DPS class. When you get two specs you get to use one to DPS, and the other to…… DPS. Not very exciting, I know. But I am here to tell you that you do have a reason to be excited.

I don’t think there is a Hunter out there who can argue the fact that speccing BM is the easiest and most efficient spec for solo questing and grinding. On the same note, Hunters can agree that not everyone wants to raid as a BM, or even have the same BM spec for raiding. Or maybe you are a PvP buff. You know damn good and well your PvP spec has no place in a raid. This is where Dual Specs will come in. Now I know there are many options for combination of specs, but what I will cover is what I am going to use.

I do two things in game: Raid and play solo. As I said, for Solo work BM is king. So my first spec will be BM with emphasis on pet survivability. As long as my pet is alive, I’m alive. Now my second spec is where it gets a little iffy.

Currently I raid with a Survival spec. I like the spec. It’s fun to play and I put out enough damage to stay in the top 3 on the meters almost every fight. With 3.1 they are introducing a lot of changes to all 3 specs and the class in general. So I don’t really know what I will spec as yet. Based on what I have read so far I will likely stay Survival for raiding, but we all know that nothing on the PTR is set in stone yet.

Now you don’t have to do the same as me. You could have two specs for raiding, swapping between them depending on the situation or group composition. You may have one for PvP. Really, the possibilities are endless.

What are your plans for dual specs?

As I’m sure you have heard by now, the changes for Hunters in the upcoming 3.1 patch have been announced. While they look good on the surface, some of the changes really aren’t that great.

Consumable ammunition has been removed from the game. Arrows and bullets no longer stack, but are not consumed. Ranged attack speed bonus gained from quivers and ammo bags will be preserved in a different capacity.

Sure, this sounds great, but lets think of the consequences. Right now Engineers main source of income profession wise is ammo (I don’t count the motorcycles since they are too expensive to even think about mass-producing). Take that away and it becomes for the most part a vanity profession. And an even bigger problem with this change is the loss of realism. Ranged weapons need ammo. We’re not shooting wands here. Sure, I want another bag slot as much as the rest of us, but come on. If you really want to give us another bag slot, make the quiver/ammo pouch into something similar to the keyring.

A new tier of hunter pet talents have been added. In particular, this allows Beastmaster hunters to improve their damage per second (DPS) with their 51 point talent.

Ok, I like this one. BM damage needs buffed back up, and this is a good way to go about it.

Hunting Party – this talent has been reduced to 3 ranks and also grants a passive bonus to the hunter.

Another good one. Not much else to say here.

Piercing Shots – this talent has been changed. Your Aimed, Steady and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed for 10/20/30% of damage dealt for 8 sec.

Well, Blizz had to do something if they wanted people to ever use the talent. This will be good, as long as the bleed effect stacks.

Sniper Training – this talent has been changed. After standing still for 6 sec, you gain a 2/4/6% damage bonus to Steady, Aimed and Explosive Shot.

This would be good, if you could actually stand still for more than 6 seconds. I don’t know about you, but there are very few fights in the game right now that don’t require considerable movement just to stay alive. If this change goes through, Sniper training will effectively become a useless talent and force Survival Hunters to trap dance.

We are also looking to add additional trap functionality to Survival.

Better trap functionality is always good. It is nice to see that Blizz is trying to take Surv back to its roots somewhat while still keeping it competitive damage wise.

One thing to keep in mind though is that none of these changes are set in stone yet. There is still a ton of testing to be done meaning these could change at any time. Or be thrown out completely. As always, thoughts and comments appreciated.

Monday night I specced Survival as part of my goal to become familiar with the changes to all Hunter specs. After doing some research, I went with a 2/17/52 build. This build is designed for long range damage with group utility through replenishment. A player could trap dance with this build, but it is not optimized for increased trap damage.

After spending some time working the target dummies over and running a few instances I have to say that I like what I am seeing. I am putting out enough damage that I don’t feel like I’m being carried through instances and the play style is close enough to Beast Master that there isn’t much of a learning curve.

My basic strategy as been to get at max range, mark and send in the pet, open with Serpent Sting, fire Explosive Shot, and then fire Steady Shots until Explosive is up again. After that it simply maintaining my sting and alternating Explosive and Steady. Basically the same thing I did with Beast Master, except I used Arcane there.

The one exception to this rotation is when Lock and Load procs. Once Explosive is off cooldown I fire it, then one Steady, Explosive, one Steady, Explosive, and then it is back to my normal rotation. I haven’t trap danced really, but if i find myself close enough to use a trap, I will throw one down to guarantee a Lock and Load proc. FYI, adds on boss fights are a great way to proc Lock and Load with a trap while still staying at max range.

Another thing I have noticed is that it doesn’t feel like I am spending near as much time in Viper as I was as a BM or Marks spec. Most likely because Replenishment is active 90% of the time and Explosive Shot grants 3 ticks of mana regen.

I think I am going to stick with this spec a little longer than I did Marks. It may turn out to be what I use to hold me over until Blizz buffs BM back up to competitive damage levels. If I do stick with it though, there are a few things that I need to work on to get the most out of it:

1. Experiment with using Multi-Shot in my rotation. Old habits die hard. I have always tried to avoid this one because I am worried about breaking CC. But since no-one uses CC any more, it is something to consider.
2. Re-gem and re-enchant to stack Agility instead of Attack Power. Mostly to get my crit up.
3. Find a new pet.

Well, that’s all I got for now. Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions would be appreciated.

I specced back to Beast Master over the weekend. Since I was doing some raiding with my guild, I wanted to bring the best I could. And despite what the theory-crafters say, for me that is BM. I’m just not familiar enough with the other specs to put out consistent DPS. Sure, I can do it on a training dummy, but in an actual fight I rely more on instinct and reflexes. Over time I hope to become proficient with Marks and Surv, but it is definitely going to take some time.

Tonight I was thinking of changing to Surv to give it a try. I might like it more, might like it less. One thing I do know is that I don’t plan on trap dancing. The whole idea of constantly running to melee range seems wrong for a Hunter. I think its also time to look into another pet. I like my moth, but I think I can do better for a non-exotic ferocity.

Any suggestion on spec or pet choice would be more than welcome.